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Abstract

Metabolic syndrome is associated with several disorders, including hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia as well as cardiovascular diseases and stroke. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the preventive effect of Rubus ulmifolius Schott extract (E) on hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia and liver oxidative stress in rats fed a high-sucrose diet. Male Wistar rats (n = 21) weighing 115 ± 3 g were used in this experiment. For induction of MS, fourteen rats were given free access to 60% sucrose in drinking water and seven rats received water for 3 weeks. After this induction phase, rats were assigned to three equal-weight groups as follows:1) C: rats were kept on standard pellet diet.2) HSD: rats were kept on high-sucrose diet containing 60% sucrose for 3 weeks.3) HSD + E: rats were kept on HSD and orally administered 300 mg/kg of extract by stomach tube once daily for a period of 3 weeks. Rats exposed to a sucrose-rich diet exhibited similar body weight despite lower food intake when comparing to control rats. Increased plasma glucose, HbA1C, triglycerides, total cholesterol (TC), VLDL-C, LDL-C, TC-HDL-C/HDL-C, total protein, albumin, fibrinogen, urea, uric acid, creatinine, ALT, AST, decreased HDL-C and impaired tolerance to glucose was reported in HS-fed rats. We also observed high TBARS and low SOD, CAT and GSH-Px activities in liver. Supplementation of HS diet with Rubus ulmifolius Schott extract at a 300 mg/kg dose improved glucose tolerance, hyperglycemia, HbA1c, dyslipidemia, liver and renal abnormalities and liver oxidative stress when compared to HSD rats. Taken as a whole, these results support the favorable effect of Rubus ulmifolius Schott extract in sucrose-induced metabolic syndrome on such variables as hyperglycemia, glucose tolerance, lipid metabolism, and liver oxidative damage, suggesting that Rubus ulmifolius Schott could be beneficial to counteract deleterious dietary sucrose in an animal metabolic syndrome model.